VFX Artists React to STAR WARS Bad & Great CGi

This Episode ►
Niko, Clint, and Wren sit down to react to some of the zestiest CGi moments from the original STAR WARS trilogy: What makes a visual effect bad? What makes one great?

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[bagelbramble]

Fun fact: Mark Hammil's sword didn't break, it was ejected so he could "cut through" Vader's hand, whereas if the blade wasn't ejected it would just wack the top of his wrist.

[cringemeister]

Some of the asteroids in the background of the chase scene were potatoes.

[jp]

Honestly, it's far more fascinating to find out how non-CGI special effects were done.

[KneelBBacon]

4:04 This shot is a matte-painting until 4:06, when they switch to a model trench. There's two flashes that fill the whole screen. If you look closely, you can spot how the second flash is used to hide the transition from the matte painting to the model.

[kuyperianberean]

Niko - the "so here's how they did it" guy
Wren - the "I love this movie!" guy
Clint - the guy that never saw a single iconic movie guy.

[ovbjjfg]

The original trilogy is truly the definition of movie magic

[danielscorner]

The scene at 3:31 when Luke cut of Vader’s hand, he purposefully pressed an eject button on the hilt so he could “cut through”.
The sword did not break. It was designed that way

[AB-yebw]

The Emperor’s Death Star landing bay filled with Imperial Storm Troopers was a matte painting as big as a door. The artist who painted it, painted a “Smiley Face” on one of the Storm Troopers helmets. I saw the actual painting back in 1989.
A Ghost Busters II matte painting has penguins on a rooftop building for no reason other then the amusement for the matte painter.

[bobmrf]

The scene where Luke’s lightsaber “breaks” is actually an intentional quick release. In the film that strike is the one that cuts Vader’s hand of so he hits a button to dislodge the blade so his swipe can follow through. The blades broke several times in prequel b roll, but that shot in particular is not what they say it is on this video.

[Dragondavereal]

The original trilogy was a masterpiece of cinematography for its time.

[JimShealy]

So fun story: I know the guy who sold the rig they used to do all the motion for the models/camera. The crane they used was a rig used on nuclear reactors. The rig could move in all degrees of freedom and was used in the reactor so that people didn't have to actually go into the reactor for inspection. He sold it to Lucas for pennies on the dollar because they needed to clear out the warehouse space and was surprised when a year or so later got a ticket for the premiere to a movie called "star wars"

[autodidactpolymath]

People who were kids in the 80s will remember that "The Making Of..." documentaries about Star Wars were on network television constantly. Knowing how much clever innovation and painstaking craftsmanship went into the films only made me a bigger fan.

[devinneiwert]

i’m a stop motion animator, i cannot imagine what an absolute nightmare these movies were to make. their work obviously paid off though!!!

[tristanfoss]

The thing I find so inspiring about old movies is just how primitive everything really was. They didn't have editing softwares tailored to their specific needs. Most of the things we can do so simply now on a computer must've taken weeks or months to do. Even basic dissolves, and despite all this, they still managed to create something great.

[TheAcdcninja]

The weird thing is... if you watch the original trilogy now, the worst effects are generally the crap cgi additions that were added 20+ years later

[ursa_margo]

I love how the Death Star exlposion is a practical explosion filmed from below, so that all the pieces actually fall into the camera. Ingenuity.

[willdabeast]

*”I am a Jeddy like my father before me.”*

[TheBfree]

I am a massive Star Wars fan and never knew that so many scenes in the original movies were actually matte paintings. That absolutely blew my mind.

[davidbayles]

I was 15 when the first (IV) Star Wars film was released. It was PURE MAGIC. When I later learned about the techniques used, it became even more impressive. Realizing the amount of time and effort it took, I began staying at the end of every movie from then on, out of respect for ALL the talent "behind the scenes".

[ForTheOmnissiah]

When I was younger and saw the original trilogy, I had no idea nor questioned when they had come out. I assumed, from seeing how good they looked, they must be mid-90's at least. Once I learned the true release date of A New Hope when I was in my mid teens it blew my mind. To this day a lot of the space shots involving ships still look fantastic. The Millennium Falcon strafing toward the camera then away is amazing.